DRAFT DAY

What a day. Full of highs and lows. The nervous, excited anticipation was palpable. Today we learned exactly what we are getting with the MANKOK regime.

Rumors swirled for months that the Browns would trade Quinn and Edwards. Countless big name college stars were mentioned as possible selections with the 5th overall pick. Even another qb, Mark Sanchez, was speculated to be a Brown.

Ultimately, it was all a perfectly planned smokescreen. We got the Jets to trade us a starting DE, Safety, bankup qb, and a second round pick for the right to switch 12 spots in round one. Defensive problems mostly solved. Now we just need a pass rushing olb. Now picking at number 17, surely Clay Matthews jerseys will be back in style in Cleveland.

A couple more trades and a couple more 6th round picks later, and I'm as high as a kite. This is incredible. We saved so much money be backing from the 5th pick to the 21st pick. Not to mention the players and picks acquired. I'm in love with MANKOK. And then it happened.

Alex Mack. I will spare you the Secret World of Alex Mack reference (or will I). Pure devastation. Maybe I didn't watch closely enough, but I didn't think Fraley was that bad. Our biggest need is OLB, not center. Maybe I was wrong, because lots of folks have since told me Fraley is a bum. That's fine. I'll get on board with this pick. Sure it was a little high. But we did our best to get as close to the end of the first round as we could in order to take him closer to his projection. I can't fault the team for getting the guy it wanted (unless that team is the Raiders). Gotta like a center who is smart (academic heisman), and was one of only four lineman to run a 40 yard dash in under 5.0. He also has the size to contain Hampton and Ngata. Good pick. I guess.

After the Mack pick, I was hoping we'd trade some of our newly acquired picks to move back into the first round to take a linebacker. Didn't happen. I was hoping Nicks would fall to us at 36. Didn't happen. I was hoping we'd trade Braylon to the Giants. Didn't happen.

What did happen was three more reaches. Robiske, Massaquoi, and Veikune were taken higher than projected by the "experts." But they do fill needs and are smart, character guys (or so I am told by the "experts"). WR was possibly the weakest position on the team. Braylon can't catch. Stallworth has legal and health problems. Syndric Steptoe was our starting WR last year. If you recall, we traded up for Hubbard last NFL draft, and he wasn't good enough to make the field for this collection of stiffs last year. Robiske and Massaquoi were arguably the two best receivers available. If we wanted immediate improvement at the WR position, which we definitely needed, we had to take them.

Veikune I don't know much about so I won't pretend to. He played DE in college, but is a linebacker in the nfl. One of the reasons MANKOK liked him is probably that he has potential at both inside and outside linebacker. If he is a bust at either, we can always convert him.

Now I'm going to watch Mel Kiper's sexy hair. Bye.